Today's the day, I feel it. Exorcised the ghost of the 3 headed goalie monster, Gio/Hamilton broken up, love the look of the forward lines, Smid's back. Good vibes today, good vibes.
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Just win. Even a scrappy win at this point would do wonders for this team.
Ideally, a win where Hiller stands strong, the Flames get scoring from more than just the Gaudreau line, and they outshoot their opponents.
But now, I will take anything
Today's the day, I feel it. Exorcised the ghost of the 3 headed goalie monster, Gio/Hamilton broken up, love the look of the forward lines, Smid's back. Good vibes today, good vibes.
Haha you stole that line
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I just want to point out, that Dougie Hamilton will have been the most mobile puckmoving competent true RHD partner Smid has played with since Jeff Petry.
According to hockeyanalysis, as a Flame his even strength partners have been:
284:56 minutes with Wideman (immobile, generally has defensive issues)
220:17 minutes with Engelland (immobile, has serious issues with clearouts. This was a pairing from Hell)
182:25 minutes with Butler (that same Chris Butler)
176:05 minutes with Giordano (both want to play the same side, but their combined 49.07 CA/60 is a good shot attempt suppression stat considering this team's defensive issues. For comparision, Gio-Hamilton is at 61.19CA/60, or 12 more shot attempts allowed per 60 minutes. Gio-Brodie was at 50.53CA/60 and Chara/Dougie was at 47.47 albeit on a much better team)
98:07 minutes with Brodie (for whatever reason, this pairing didn't work but their 32.1 OZS% might be why - they were used the same way Brodie-Engelland were last year in a pure defense role)
60:43 minutes with Diaz (not as good as Petry or Hamilton)
In many ways Smid's early career success was a direct result of the combination of Petry's skillset. Hamilton is a good fit beside him, for two reasons:
1) Smid assumes all crease-clearing duties, which Hamilton appears to be struggling with
2) Hamilton assumes all zone breakout duties, which Smid struggles with.
They are Yin and Yang, Ladi and Dougie.
I dub thee:
Dougislav
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Last edited by GranteedEV; 10-23-2015 at 12:54 PM.
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Don't worry, it is the first game of the season I will not be attending so they will probably win.
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The obvious problem with playing Nakladal over Smid is that it would present a problem we've never had in my time of following the Flames, too many right shot defensemen in the lineup (Wideman, Engelland, Hamilton and Nakladal.)
With Smid the lineup will be perfectly balanced with 3 righties and 3 lefties. With Nakladal and no Smid we'd have 4 righties and 2 lefties.
I don't know that any of the righties are comfortable playing their off side. I know Brodie as a leftie can play his off side quite well.
Might be one of the reasons why we're seeing Smid over Nakladal at this point.
We will see a lot of Smid this season, if he shakes the rust off. With Brodie coming back soon, and Russell rumors swirling about, eventually we could have Gio/Brodie/Smid patrolling the left and Wideman/Hamilton/Nakladal on the right, with Englland punching two Canucks at once in the 7 role. Actually that doesn't sound bad at all.
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The obvious problem with playing Nakladal over Smid is that it would present a problem we've never had in my time of following the Flames, too many right shot defensemen in the lineup (Wideman, Engelland, Hamilton and Nakladal.)
With Smid the lineup will be perfectly balanced with 3 righties and 3 lefties. With Nakladal and no Smid we'd have 4 righties and 2 lefties.
I don't know that any of the righties are comfortable playing their off side. I know Brodie as a leftie can play his off side quite well.
Might be one of the reasons why we're seeing Smid over Nakladal at this point.
I wouldn't read too much into a right or left shot. Sometimes you get a whole d-corps that are left shots. It just so happens that righties are rarer, so having a lineup of righties is no different than having a lineup of lefties.
If Nakladal gives us a better chance to win, I don't care if he's a left or right shot.
Some coaches place more weight on trying to put righties with lefties. Remember the rumours that Hamhuis made team Canada over Gio because he's a righty? Others don't care.
The Red Wings are not as good as their record. Mrazek's stats:
.922 + 3.07 GAA
Pretty much tells you why. They've given up 36+ shots three times in six games. The Flames have also been bad, but have only given up 31+ shots once in the season opener.
On the not-so-bright-side, Dylan Larkin is good. Every time we're about to play a non-division team with a player that's been playing well, the Hartley Flames get lit up by that one player instead of scouting him out. So expect a a goal or two out of Larkin.
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I wouldn't read too much into a right or left shot. Sometimes you get a whole d-corps that are left shots. It just so happens that righties are rarer, so having a lineup of righties is no different than having a lineup of lefties.
Righties (who are really lefties IRL so it's wierd to call them righties) are rarer, so they're also far less accustomed to playing the left side. Left-hand shot players are skilled with playing the right side often because right-hand shots are so rare. So there is some real concern with too many righties. That said last season we had a righty playing left side in Diaz, but he had some nice and underrated puck skills.
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Last edited by GranteedEV; 10-23-2015 at 01:10 PM.
